Assessing knowledge or classroom behavior? Evidence of teachers? grading bias

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ferman, Bruno; Fontes, Luiz Felipe
• 署名单位: Getulio Vargas Foundation
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104773
• 发表日期: 2022
• 关键词: Classroom behavior; noncognitive skills; Grading bias; test scores

摘要

This paper tests whether teachers unequally evaluate students based on their classroom behavior, rather than their scholastic competence. Evidence is drawn from a unique dataset on students from Brazil, which allows us to contrast teacher-and blindly-assigned scores on achievement tests that are high -stakes and cover the same material. We find that teachers inflate test scores of better-behaved students, and deduct points from worse-behaved ones. We also find that teachers' decision to promote students is influenced by how they behave in class. Our results (i) document a potentially inefficient way of assessing students' knowledge, (ii) explain a large part of grading discrimination against boys, and (iii) reveal a cau-sal effect of noncognitive skills on educational outcomes that is unrelated to student proficiency.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.